Five players from the 2018 world junior team face charges in a case tracing back to an alleged group sexual assault that occurred after a Hockey Canada gala that same year.
Dillon Dube, Carter Hart, Alex Formenton, Cal Foote and Michael McLeod are each being charged with one count of sexual assault. McLeod is facing an additional charge of sexual assault “by being a party to the offence,” court records show.
Four of the five players are on NHL contracts through to the end of the 2023-24 season, though all have been granted leaves of absence from their respective teams.
Elliot Saccucci, a partner at Loopstra Nixon LLP and head of its sports law group, spoke to the Star and helped explain what a leave of absence entails, whether teams can terminate contracts for legal reasons, and whether the league can step in to suspend or ban players.
Saccucci and his firm aren’t “professionally involved with (the 2018 world junior) situation.”
Are the NHL players on leaves of absence still getting paid?
“In a typical situation, a player that is granted a personal leave of absence from their club will continue to be paid and continue to count against the salary cap,” Saccucci explained in an email to the Star.
For example, Hart, the highest paid of the players on indefinite leave, has an annual salary of $4.479 million (U.S.) this season.
The NHL also has a salary cap for each team, which limits each team to a total $83.5 million in salaries for the 2023-24 season. A player’s cap hit is calculated by the annual average salary across a given contract.
Hart’s cap hit of $3.979 million will continue to count against the Flyers’ salary cap. However, while on leave, Hart does not count against the Flyers’ 23-person roster limit because he has “nonroster” status.
The four players on NHL contracts — Dube, Hart, Foote and McLeod — are on expiring deals and will be free agents at the end of the 2023-24 season.
Can teams terminate an NHL contract?
“Teams have the contractual right to terminate a standard player contract in instances where a player has been found to have breached the morality provisions of that contract,” Saccucci added, citing players like Alex Galchenyuk and Corey Perry as recent examples of players who have been let go by teams.
Galchenyuk, a former pc28Maple Leafs forward, was arrested in July 2023 — shortly after he signed with the Arizona Coyotes — when he hit a road sign and another car in a parking lot in Scottsdale, Ariz. Body cam footage from the incident showed Galchenyuk threatening to kill police officers and their families.
He was charged with threatening or intimidating, resisting arrest, failure to obey, disorderly conduct and private property hit-and-run but pled guilty to just the one count of threatening, while the other charges were dismissed. Galchenyuk spent two days in jail, paid a fine and completed an alcohol treatment program.
The Coyotes terminated Galchenyuk’s contract four days after the incident. He now plays for SKA St. Petersburg in Russia.
The details surrounding Perry’s departure from the Chicago Blackhawks mid-season remain murky. The veteran forward violated team policies “intended to promote professional and safe work environments,” according to the Blackhawks.
His contract was terminated on Nov. 28. Perry later released a statement, apologizing to the Blackhawks organization, his fans and his family. “I have let you all down,” he said, and added that he would be seeking treatment for alcohol abuse and mental health.
Perry returned to the NHL just a few months later, signing with the Edmonton Oilers on Jan. 22 on a one-year, league minimum deal.
The Star reached out to agents of the 2018 team players, they declined to comment.
Can the NHL kick players out of the league?
Commissioner Gary Bettman also has “broad powers to hold players out of the NHL for breaches of their contract” or “for bringing the league into disrepute, which happened with Shane Pinto of the (Ottawa) Senators earlier this season with a 41-game suspension,” said Saccucci.
The NHL suspended Pinto, a 22-year-old forward, in October for “activities relating to sports wagering,” making him the first NHL player to be temporarily banned from the league for gambling.
What was the 2018 world juniors scandal involving Team Canada?
After a Hockey Canada gala celebrating the gold medal won by Canada’s 2018 world junior hockey team, several players are alleged to have sexually assaulted an intoxicated woman in a hotel room. While an initial lawsuit filed by the alleged victim in 2022 included eight players in the sexual assault, London police later said it has grounds to believe that five players were involved.
The woman sued Hockey Canada, the Canadian Hockey League and eight unnamed players for $3.55 million in 2022. The lawsuit was settled by Hockey Canada and the Canadian Hockey League out of court for an undisclosed amount. When the lawsuit came to light, Hockey Canada became embroiled in scandal as it was revealed the organization had used funds collected from minor hockey membership fees to settle claims of sexual assault and abuse.
The lawsuit stated the eight “John Does” were from the Canadian Hockey League, the umbrella organization of the three Canadian junior leagues, comprising the Ontario Hockey League, Quebec Major Junior Hockey League and Western Hockey League.
Formenton came to the world juniors from the CHL, as did the four NHL players who have taken leaves of absence from their teams following the Globe’s report.
The alleged group sexual assault was first reported to London police when it allegedly occurred in 2018, but no charges were laid at the time.
The police reopened their investigation in 2022 and sought warrants to search the hotel room where the alleged assault occurred and to collect information from law firms hired by Hockey Canada to conduct their own investigations. The police investigation was later criticized for its lengthy timeline at parliamentary hearings in June 2023.
London police, in 2022, said they believed the woman was sexually assaulted by players on the 2018 team. None of the claims has been tested in court.
